How heavy rain leads to heavy energy!

Do you feel sluggish and heavy lately? Did you notice that you feel like functioning in slow motion both physically and mentally? Do you feel the need to stay in bed in the morning cuddling warmly your partner or may be just your pillow? What about your energy at work, do you see yourself slower and more reflective? 

All of the above is normal, we are in the Kapha season. To make a 5000 years old story short, Ayurveda, which translate from Sanskrit in the Science of Life, is a conscious based approach to health and well-being directly inspired by the laws of nature.

Just a little reminder before we move on, we are a piece of nature! And more than ever before are we realizing the need to return to nature.

So back to how we feel and what the correlation to the current weather is. Ayurveda teaches us that everything on Earth, including the human body and mind, is made up of the 5 elements; space, air, fire, water and earth. From a seasonal standpoint as well, some elements are dominant in each season, and late winter and spring are what we call the Kapha season, which is mainly made up of earth and water. We typically experience heavy rain in spring, the temperatures are still fresh and the overall atmosphere in nature is slow, soft and heavy. So guess what, similarly to nature, we have the tendencies to feel more sluggish, our energy is heavier and our mind tends to be slower. 

It is possible that before reading this you actually didn’t notice because we unfortunately have forgotten to be connected to our nature and the natural flows of life. Now that you read about this, do you recognize yourself in some of it? I invite you to observe yourself and your energy over the coming days. How do you feel when you wake-up? How is your energy at work? What are the kind of activities you are attracted to currently?

Right, nice information but what do I do with it? I can’t really stay in bed every morning cuddling whatever I feel like cuddling. The initial step is actually just awareness, understanding that « as is the macrocosm, so is the microcosm » , the energies that dominate our environment, directly influence what we are experiencing in our body and mind. It simply is about realizing why we are feeling a bit slower and heavier at the moment, as to welcome this natural state without self-judgment.

While it is good to embrace this season fully, you of course also need to continue to perform all your daily activities, so here are 5 practical advic the beautiful Ayurvedic philosophy teaches us to help increase our energy and which I would like to share with you:

• Manage your sleep mindfully which translates into 7-8 hours good quality sleep but don’t oversleep. Go to bed early, ideally between 10 and 11 pm but don’t stay in bed after 7, ideally 6 … give yourself a gentle kick out of the bed in the morning!

• Start the day with some light physical activity for 15 to 30 minutes to get the energy moving through your body and wake up your cells.  Yoga is an ideal activity, especially its sun salutations, but just some stretching works wonders as well. 

• Adapt your diet to counter the heaviness of the weather. Eat your biggest meal at noon and prefer a warm and spicy meal which will heat your system and ignite your digestive fire. Eat a warm but light dinner early, ideally 2-3 hours before bedtime.

• Drink warm Ginger elixir before your meals. Our digestive fire also slows down and becomes sluggish during spring. So drinking this mix of Ginger, Lemon, Honey and Pepper will ignite your digestive fire. You’ll find the recipe at the end of the article.

• Declutter your house and do some spring cleaning in your house and office. Because our mind is heavier, we have the tendency to hang onto our thoughts and our past in spring. Cleaning our outer space has a nock on effect on our inner space. 

Last but not least, be gentle with yourself, it is not the moment to push yourself into extreme activity or performance, be patient the right season for that is coming … summer is around the corner and summer is the season of fire!

With love,

Simone

Image copyright @guillaume

Ginger Elixir by Deepak Chopra:

1 cup fresh ginger juice (from fresh ginger root)

1 cup lemon juice (made from four to six lemons)

1 cup water

3/4 cup raw honey (preferably organic)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper